Interesting Australian Facts 2

November 23, 2017

Don’t just sit there with your friends wishing you had some interesting Australian facts and trivia to share with them!

If you scour your brain but can’t quit find anything that will have your friends impressed and intrigued by the great land down under, then this article is for you.

Don’t worry! This page will fill the gap of knowledge and give you some great conversation starters. We constantly update everything from basic facts to crazy facts, politics, history, nature, geography and everything in between. We keep it interesting and funny. You’ll never be unsure of what to say about Australia again. Remember, it’s all about giving Aussies abroad bragging rights.

Tasmania has the world’s cleanest air and water. The lack of pollution is due to the islands southerly latitude and distance from other land masses. Tasmania was originally known as Van Diemans Land.

Obesity and over weight. Australia has turned into a fat country with two-thirds of adults obese or overweight in 2015.

Active Beach Lifestyle.

Ironically, we are also one of the most active countries with 70% of people participating in recreational activity or sports once per week. I think someone forgot to tell Aussies that pool and darts at the pub doesn’t count.

Illegal to swim at public beaches. It was a matter of public decency. Swimming during daylight hours was forbidden due to a lack of changing sheds and a debate on appropriate swimming attire. The laws changed in 1902 and Australia’s first official surf lifesaving club – the first in the world – was founded at Bondi Beach, in Sydney, in 1906.

Australias first police force were criminals. Crime was rife throughout Australia when the British first settled so the Governor created the Night Watch which was made up of 12 well-behaved convicts. Within 30 years, Sydney had almost 60 policemen which were mostly ex convicts.

Nuclear test by fanatical Japanese death cult. Yes, you read that correctly. In 1993 a rumble in remote western Australia measured 3.6 on the Richter scale. Later, investigators discovered that members of the Japanese religious organization Aum Shrinrikyo were in the outback at the time. Evidence, has mounted up over the years that they let off a nuclear explosion about 12 hours east of Perth.

The Maree Man. In 1998, a figure with a perimeter of 28 km was discovered in central South Australia. It appears to depict a man hunting with a stick or a boomerang. It’s origins are a mystery.

Migaloo The Whale. The only albino humpback whale in the world was first spotted off Byron Bay in 1991. He is still alive today and is approximately 38 years old. He is a member of the east Australian population of humpback whales and Migaloo means “white fella”.

Kangaroos And Emus can’t walk backwards. Therefore, they’re on the Australian coat of arms symbolizing moving forward and never backwards.

Big Red Kangaroo is the largest of over 60 different species of Kangaroos. The largest recorded was 2.1 meters tall and weighed 91kg. Starting life the kangaroo is only 1-2 cm at birth. The longest recorded jump by a Kangaroo was 9 meters.

Wombats have cubed shaped poo. The shape helps the poo balance on logs and rocks where they use it to mark their territory.

47% of Australians were born in another country or have a parent born in another country. Melbourne has the highest population of Greeks outside of Athens

The Republic of Australia was rejected in 1999 by 55% of Australians. The proposal was for Australia to become a Republic headed by a president. They probably didn’t want to give up the public holiday on the Queens Birthday.

Flat White Coffee. I remember 10 years ago being stared at blankly when I asked for a flat white outside of Australia. Australia invented the flat white coffee but New Zealanders also lay claim. We will be arguing over this for a long time.

Australia has no official Language. English is just the de facto language and is spoken in 72.7% of homes. Australia also has no official religion because the federal government is banned from enacting a state religion of Australia. Australian sign language is known as Auslan.

Australians smoke pot. Australians love to smoke the pot. Approximately 50% of teenagers smoke pot and 750,000 Australians smoke every week. On 17 October 2015, the Federal Government announced that it would legalize the growing of cannabis for medicinal and scientific purposes.

Selfies was invented by an Australian. Well, the word was anyway by a drunk Aussie that put a video post online referring to photos taken of himself as selfies. Good Onya mate!

The Sail’s of the Sydney Opera House can be put together to form a perfect sphere. It was designed by a Danish architect and holds over 40 shows a week.

Australias Internet speed is slow and only ranks 58th in the world.

Don’t change lightbulbs in Victoria, that’s because by law only a licensed electrician is allowed to take on this daring feat.

Australia has the biggest banana, that’s right, we also have the biggest Mango, Ram and Koala.

Dutch explorers were the first to discover Australia in 1606, they named it New Holland but made no attempt to settle. William Dampier, an English explorer landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688 and again in 1699. The French tried to claim Australia but were beaten by the English by only a few days. Australia was officially named in 1824.

There you have it!

Now you have some great conversation starters………or killers! Share other any other great facts and trivia by getting vocal in the comments section below.

You never need to be left unsure about any Australian topic again. You can represent proudly!

4 Replies to “Interesting Australian Facts 2”

This was super interesting! I love the facts about Australia, now I can create some nice conversations during thanksgiving dinner. I was shocked by the fact about Australia being overweight (unfortunately), because I found that surprising that 2/3 of Australian adults are obese. Plus, I’m a health fanatic. Lastly, I’m not looking forward to the slow internet when I visit. Thank you for sharing this post!

I love this article! Random interesting facts about Australia, who knew? I especially like how you put it all together as a conversation starter. I especially enjoyed the info on the kangaroos, emus and wombats. And the lightbulbs! I guess you can’t make this stuff up. Thanks for the read and I will pass along some of these conversation starters for sure.